Tintin and the Secret of LiteratureHergé's Tintin cartoon adventures have been translated into more than 50 languages and read by tens of millions of children ages, as their publishers like to say, "from 7 to 77." Arguing that their characters are as strong and their plots as complex as any dreamt up by the great novelists, the author asks a simple question: Is Tintin literature? Taking a cue from Tintin himself, who spends much of his time tracking down illicit radio signals, entering crypts, and decoding puzzles, this work suggests that readers also need to tune in and decode in order to capture what's going on in the work. What emerges is a remarkable story of hushed up royal descent, in both Hergé's work and his own family history. The author shows how the themes this story generates: expulsion from home, violation of the sacred, the host guest relationship turned sour, and anxieties around questions of forgery and fakeness, are the same that have fueled and troubled writers from the classical era to the present day. His startling conclusion is that Tintin's ultimate secret is that of literature itself. |
Contents
Fascism | 35 |
From Château | 61 |
A Thing in the Grip of Gravity or GLING | 163 |
Copyright | |
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Abraham and Torok Adonis adventure Alcazar artist Arumbaya Balthazar Balzac Barthes become Bianca Castafiore Black Gold Blue Lotus book's Borduria Broken Ear burial Calculus Affair Calculus's Captain Haddock Carreidas Castafiore Emerald Castafiore's castration château Cigars comedy comes copy counterfeit crypt death Derrida Destination Moon fake fetish Francis's gift Golden Claws guests hear Hergé hidden inauthenticity Inca jewels King Ottokar's Sceptre Land of Black language later laughter legacy literature Louis Marlinspike meaning metaphor oeuvre opera parchments parrot Petit Vingtième Pharaoh Picaros played political Prisoners Rastapopoulos realises Red Rackham's Treasure Red Sea Sharks rocket sacred Sadoul Sarrasine Sarrasine's says scene secret sequence Seven Crystal Balls sings Sir Francis Snowy Soviets Sponsz story takes Tchang tells Thompson and Thomson Tintin and Alph-Art Tintin and Haddock Tintin books tion Tisseron tomb trans turns Unicorn villains voice whole words writing Zambinella